Class Notes

Marion Edwyn Harrison (Col ’51 L/M) completed his 14th lecture abroad with a U.S. Supreme Court Justice this year in Strasbourg, France. Mr. Harrison is president of the Free Congress Research and Education Foundation, Inc., and is a Washington, D.C., and Virginia layer, with an office in Alexandria, Va. His commentary, Notable News Now, is posted on freecongress.org and is e-mailed to 6,800 people. Mr. Harrison and his wife reside in Arlington, Va., with a second home in Scottsdale, Ariz. Two of their three children hold graduate degrees from U.Va. and their eldest grandchild holds a University college degree.

Susan Mattwell Fiacco (Com ’85) is vice president and chief information officer of ArcelorMittal Projects globally. ArcelorMittal Projects provides foundation, oil and gas, and construction steel solutions to North America, South America, Europe, Middle East, China and ASEAN regions and is a business unit within ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steelmaker operating in over 60 countries. Ms. Fiacco resides with her husband and three children in New Jersey.

Kimberly M. Boyer (Col ’98) married Christopher A. Banta on July 18, 2009. The couple resides in Roanoke, Va.

Katie Hall (Col ’00) is the curator of decorative arts at the Louisiana State Museum in New Orleans. In 2006, she received a master’s degree in the history of decorative arts, design and culture from Bard Graduate Center in New York City.

Courtney Lodge McCreesh (Col ’03 L/M) and Patrick J. McCreesh (Col ’02 L/M) welcomed their first child and daughter, Elizabeth Maeve, on July 10, 2009. The family resides in Alexandria, Va.

Kristopher Johnson (Com ’96 L/M) is vice president of Market Risk Management at Prudential Bache Commodities, LLC. He resides with his wife in Manhattan.

Andrew Leahey (Col ’05) married Emily Morgan Kraft, a graduate of the University of Arizona, on June 27, 2009. The couple resides in Ann Arbor, Mich., where Mr. Leahey works as a music critic and Ms. Kraft serves as the regional recruitment director for Teach For America.

Jennifer Thornton Farrar (Com ’94 L/M) and her husband, Chris, are proud to announce the birth of their son, Christopher Edward, on June 30, 2009. The family resides in Richmond, Va.

Simons Young (Col ’98) opened a small design firm in Charleston, S.C., called Thompson Young Design. Mr. Young is an architect with a focus on adaptive reuse and new construction in the context of the historic city.

Alexandra H. Ellen Ebrahim (Col ’00 L/M) and Jeremy A. Ebrahim (Com ’00 L/M) welcomed their first child and son, Jameson Andrew, on July 27, 2009. The family resides in New York City.

John D. Reeser (Col ’85 L/M) has been mobilized by the U.S. Navy to serve as the director of manpower and personnel for Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa in Djibouti, Africa, for one year. CJTF HOA employs an indirect approach to counter violent extremism and works to prevent the exploitation of instability by building internal capacities of East Africa countries. Captain Reeser is responsible for the administration and manpower allocation of the joint task force, which includes 1,800 personnel from all branches of the U.S. military, coalition forces, partner nations, and civilians.

Emily Marlow Beck (Col ’99 L/M) and her husband, Andrew, welcomed their first child, Olin Gerrit, on March 20, 2009. Ms. Beck is the daughter of John K. Marlow (Com ’61 L/M).

Erik Petersen (Col ’93, Law ’96 L/M) and his wife, Andrea, are proud to welcome their second child and daughter, Marley Joan, on July 14, 2009.

Timothy Kokan (Engr ’00) and Stephanie Kraige Kokan (Engr ’00) welcomed their second child, Matthew David, on June 2, 2009. Matthew joins a sister, Caroline, 2, and is the grandson of L. Glenn Kraige (Engr ’70, ’72, ’75 L/M) and the nephew of Daniel Kokan (Engr ’97).

Donald Gray Heppner Jr. (Col ’78, Med ’83 L/M) received the Kiwanis International 2009 World Service Medal for his role in the development of a promising vaccine against malaria, a disease that kills 3,000 children every day. Col. Heppner is deputy commander of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Silver Spring, Md., named for Maj. Walter Reed (Med 1869). The institute’s mission is to develop FDA-approved drugs and vaccines to protect against HIV/AIDS, malaria, diarrhea, dengue fever, leishmaniasis and other tropical diseases. Working with GlaxoSmithKline, his team of scientists conducted studies in Africa, Asia, Europe and the U.S. of the most promising malaria vaccine, known as RTS,S. Col. Heppner and his wife, Mary Leach Heppner (Col ’82 L/M); and their son, William, live in Vienna, Va. Their daughters, Charlotte Heppner (Col ’10 L/M) and Virginia Heppner (Col ’12 L/M), are the most recent Wahoos in the family.

A. Carly Brown (Col ’07 L/M) and Garrett Edward Buxton (Col ’08) were married on June 27, 2009, in Richmond, Va. The couple resides in Chicago, where they are both pursuing graduate degrees at the University of Chicago. Mr. Buxton will complete a master’s degree in international relations and Ms. Buxton will complete her doctorate in East Asian languages and civilizations.

Austin Lindsay Pearre (Col ’89 L/M) is a business banker with PNC Bank in Frederick, Md. He lives in Jefferson, Md., with his wife, Lisa Tourjee Hill Pearre, a principal of Love & Company, an agency specializing in marketing to seniors; sons Forrest Reed Pearre, 15, and Colin Alexander Pearre, 3; and daughter Lindsay Tourjee Pearre, born July 21, 2009. Mr. Pearre is the son of Dr. Albert Austin Pearre Jr. (Col ’56), who practices internal medicine in Frederick, Md.; and brother of Insley Pearre (Col ’84), who is a screenwriter in Los Angeles.

David Sexton (Col ’08) is finishing his final year in the U.Va. College Guide Program at Northern Virginia Community College in Alexandria, Va.

Marci Stewart (Col ’08 L/M) works for Abercrombie & Fitch in their corporate office. She lives in Columbus, Ohio.

Keshia Ashe (Engr ’08 L/M) is pursuing a chemical engineering Ph.D. at the University of Connecticut in the Cato Laurencin Laboratories.

Jessica Lennon (Col ’08) is a web associate at Friends of the World Food Program, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C.

Brenton Sadauskas (Engr ’89 L/M) and Rachel Sadauskas (Educ ’00 L/M) welcomed a son, Johnas Christian on May 19, 2009.

Sara Rains Hunt (Col ’03) and John Vaden Hunt (Col ’98) welcomed their first child, John Vaden Hunt Jr., on July 4, 2009. The family resides in Lynchburg, Va.

Dan Greene (Col ’05, Med ’10) married Arielle Myhre (Col ’05) on July 3, 2009. The couple resides in Charlottesville.

Gail Pinsky Rand (Com ’95 L/M) and her husband, Colin, joyfully announce the birth of their third child, Logan Thomas, born July 1, 2009. Logan joins 7-year old brother, Aidan, and 4-year old sister, Chloe. The family resides in Annapolis, Md.

Ellen Prewitt (Col ’79 L/M) lives in Memphis, Tenn., where she facilitates a writing group of men and women who live on the street. Paraclete Press recently published her first book, Making Crosses: A Creative Connection to God. The book introduces the spiritual practice of making crosses from broken and found objects. One of Ms. Prewitt’s essays is included in Sue Silverman’s instructional book, Fearless Confessions: A Writer’s Guide to Memoir, released in June.

Meredith Rivers Burkitt (Engr ’96 L/M) and her husband, Todd, welcomed their first daughter, Mary Stewart Rivers Burkitt, on Sept. 24, 2008. Mary Stewart joins brother, Luke, 3. The family resides in Charlotte, N.C.

Edward Wandelt (Col ’73, Arch ’79 L/M) is director, office of environmental management at U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, D.C., where he is responsible for all environmental matters relating to Coast Guard operations and shore facilities.

Marie Johnson Martin (Col ’03 L/M) and Matthew Martin were married at St. Paul’s Ivy Episcopal Church on May 2, 2009. The couple resides in Alexandria, Va., where Ms. Martin is an associate attorney with the law firm of Chadwick, Washington, Moriarty, Elmore and Bunn, P.C. Mr. Martin works for the Department of Defense in Washington, D.C. Bridesmaids included Rena Wamsley (Com ’02 L/M), Jennifer Bizub (Col ’03), Heather Katebini Kim (Col ’03), Elizabeth Moyo and Sarah Johnson Scott (Col ’04, Educ ’04).

Kathleen McLaren-Hawking (Col ’96) and her husband, Mark Hawking, proudly announce the birth of their daughter, Lilian Elise Hawking. Lilian was born May 27, 2009, and weighed 7 lbs 12 oz. The family resides in San Diego.

Carolyn Piskun (Col ’92 L/M) and her husband, Scott, welcomed their second child and son, Mason Robert, on March 4, 2009. Mason joins brother, Maximus, 1. The family lives in Denver.

Breann Alexandria Savage (Col ’07) and Benjamin Cameron Lyon (Col ’05) were married Jan. 3, 2009. Mr. Lyon received a master of divinity degree from Westminster Theological Seminary on May 28, 2009. The couple resides in Jenkintown, Pa.

Chris Norden (Col ’82, Grad ’86 L/M) served as visiting professor at Huafan University in Taiwan this summer, where he met Huafan University foreign languages and literature faculty member, Shawn Lee (Educ ’07). Mr. Norden is a humanities professor at Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho, where he teaches international literature and environmental studies.

Rochelle “Shelly” Levy Cooper (Col ’84 L/M) is vice president and general counsel at United Space Alliance, LLC, a space operations company. She lives with her husband and two children in Melbourne, Fla.

James Heaney (Col ’93 L/M) and his wife, Rebecca, announce the birth of their first child, Katherine Ann Springer Heaney, on April 2, 2009. The happy family resides in Washington, D.C.

Jennifer Balint Pfeffer (Col ’01 L/M) and Patrick Beau Bryan (Col ’99, Law ’02 L/M) were married Aug. 30, 2008. They reside in Vienna, Va.

Elizabeth “Bette” D. Kaufman (Col ’01, Med ’07 L/M) and Dr. Robert S.McNamara were married May 30, 2009 in Roanoke, Va. Dr. Kaufman was given in marriage by her mother, Linda Sargent Kaufman (Med Tech ’69 L/M), and her father, Dr. John Pearse Kaufman (Med ’70 L/M). Her aunt, LaDonna Sargent (Col ’79) sang at the wedding and Dr. Melissa B. Weimer  (Col ’01) was a bridesmaid in the wedding.
Elizabeth says: The bride and groom were surrounded by many hoos!

Harold York (Grad ’88, ’92 L/M) works at Wood Mackenzie as vice president, Downstream Consulting – Americas. The energy research and consulting firm is headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is privately held. He previously served as a principal for Charles River Associates.